Padres believe offense won't be offensive in 2012

San Diego Padres' Yonder Alonso, right, the key player in their biggest off season trade, wallops a two-run double against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fifth inning ofg a spring training baseball game on Sunday, March 11, 2012, in Peoria, Ariz. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
— AP

San Diego Padres' Yonder Alonso, right, the key player in their biggest off season trade, wallops a two-run double against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fifth inning ofg a spring training baseball game on Sunday, March 11, 2012, in Peoria, Ariz. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
/ AP

The Padres do not believe they will be the arguably the worst offensive team in baseball this season.

“I think we’ve put some things in motion to correct the problems of last season,” third baseman Chase Headley said recently.

“It won’t be one or two guys having a monster season; we’re not built that way. But I think we’re going to be stronger one through eight in the order. If everybody does a little bit better, we’re going to be OK.”

Added shortstop Jason Bartlett: “The way we have to do it is what we should have done last year. But last year was crazy. Things never went to plan.”

The plan last year was to follow the blueprint of 2010: Turn at-bats into pitched battles, perfect situational hitting, score early, wear down the starting pitcher, attack the bullpen.

The 2010 plan was to work with Petco Park. Let the other team become frustrated by the dynamics of the place while turning limited opportunities into one and two-run leads through solid situational hitting.

That plan helped produce 90 wins. Failing to again execute that plan in 2011 resulted in only 71 wins and some embarrassing offensive numbers.

How does a team finish with the second-fewest homers in the National League (91) while leading the league in strikeouts (1,320)?

“I promise, that won’t happen again,” said Padres manager Bud Black, who is likely looking for far fewer strikeouts than many more homers.

And that ambiguity was only part of the Padres’ overall offensive malaise in 2011.

The Padres last season scored the third-fewest runs in the National League. They also finished last in batting average (.237) and slugging percentage (.349) while next-to-last in on-base percentage (.305).

The Padres were the only team in the NL with more strikeouts than hits (1,284). Exactly a quarter of their strikeouts came with runners in scoring position, a situation in which the Padres hit exactly .237.

That kind of consistency is not good.

“It wasn’t any one thing that caused our offensive problems last season,” Black said recently. “We didn’t perform like we should have in a number of areas, including situational hitting and getting production from traditional run-producing positions.

“But no one person caused the problem last year.”

And the Padres believe no one player can provide the answer this season.

In fact, even before left fielder/cleanup hitter Carlos Quentin was lost for at least the first two weeks of the regular season, the Padres were talking about how one player couldn’t reverse their offensive fortunes.

“We need contributions from every spot in the order to make it work,” said Black. “We don’t have that one player who can carry us. Even if we did, our home park doesn’t exactly play to that kind of ball.